NFriday wrote:Did anybody else see 24 Hours to Hell and Back? I was wondering how he was going to revamp a restaurant in 24 hours. It turns out that secret cameras were placed in the restaurant several weeks before Gordon showed up, and several people involved with the show, ate at the restaurant a few times, and so they kind of knew what they were dealing with. Gordon Ramsey then went in incognito to the restaurant, and tried the food himself. After being thoroughly disgusted with his meal, Gordon took off his disguise, and said why he was there, and then immediately closed the restaurant down for 24 hours. In 24 hours they completely rehabbed the place. They painted in the dining room, and replaced all of the ceiling lighting, and replaced all of the furniture. They also replaced all of the equipment in the kitchen, and threw out a ton of food, and scrubbed the kitchen down. I don't know how they were able to do all of that in 24 hours. Ramsey also updated the menu.

Vinny the guy who owned the restaurant had a real temper, and nobody got along with him. He also was not courteous when dealing with customers. The restaurant had lost $100,000 in the last year. They went back to the restaurant three months later, and business had picked up, and Vinny got along better with the employees and customers, but it was still a work in progress.

It is very much the format of Kitchen Nightmares with a more compressed timeline.

I will certainly be watching, because I really do hope these businesses can get their restaurant back on track. Often on Kitchen Nightmares, the intervention came too late with the restaurant closing eventually.

Hi- There is going to be a new series hosted by Marcus Samuelsson called No Passport Required, that is going to premier on Tuesday 7/10 at 9:00pm, on Channel 11. The show on 7/24 is going to center on Chicago. The first show this Tuesday is going to focus on Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit. He is also visiting New Orleans, Miami, DC, and Queens. It is a six part series. It looks interesting.

Lunch ON! focuses on workplaces and their lunch traditions. There's generally quite a bit of information about the work itself and also plenty of specific details about the lunches and how those lunch traditions came to be -- often they are intertwined with the work itself. The show provides a fascinating and informative cross-sectional view of everyday Japanese culture from an interesting and unique perspective. I've seen episodes that showcased garbage collectors and artisanal charcoal makers, just to name a couple.

Trails to Tsukiji dedicates its entire 30-minute episodes to single ingredients that can be found at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market. Subjects range from specific kinds fish and seafood to all sorts of produce. The show focuses on how the item is typically found and sold at the market and then follows its trail to see how and where it is caught or grown, how it is often prepared, how specialty establishments serve it and more. I've seen episodes on everything from Monkfish to Wasabi and they're all compelling.

If you have access to this channel and you're into Japanese food and culture, I highly recommend these 2 programs. Some episodes are available to stream online, so you don't necessarily even need the channel to view them. In any event, it's some great, highly informative, detailed content that you won't find anywhere else.

=R=

There's a horse loose in a hospital -- JM

I am not interested in how I would evaluate the Springbank in a blind tasting. Every spirit has its story, and I include it in my evaluation, just as I do with human beings. --Thad Vogler

Lunch ON! focuses on workplaces and their lunch traditions. There's generally quite a bit of information about the work itself and also plenty of specific details about the lunches and how those lunch traditions came to be -- often they are intertwined with the work itself. The show provides a fascinating and informative cross-sectional view of everyday Japanese culture from an interesting and unique perspective. I've seen episodes that showcased garbage collectors and artisanal charcoal makers, just to name a couple.

Trails to Tsukiji dedicates its entire 30-minute episodes to single ingredients that can be found at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji market. Subjects range from specific kinds fish and seafood to all sorts of produce. The show focuses on how the item is typically found and sold at the market and then follows its trail to see how and where it is caught or grown, how it is often prepared, how specialty establishments serve it and more. I've seen episodes on everything from Monkfish to Wasabi and they're all compelling.

If you have access to this channel and you're into Japanese food and culture, I highly recommend these 2 programs. Some episodes are available to stream online, so you don't necessarily even need the channel to view them. In any event, it's some great, highly informative, detailed content that you won't find anywhere else.

=R=

Before my Tokyo trip a couple years back, I started watching trails to tsukiji as I digested any sort of Japanese food media. Really enjoyed the show and provided a ton of detail on each ingredient!

I'm sorry that I made a mistake. The link that I gave to No Passport Required said the program was on at 8:00pm, but it was on at 9:00pm on WTTW tonight. Did anybody else see it? I thought it was good. Marcus Samuelsson visited Detroit and Dearborn tonight and looked into Arab culture and food in those two cities. There are tons of Arab people in Dearborn, and there are quite a few in Detroit too. He visited Arab restaurants and homes in both Detroit and Dearborn. They are going to rebroadcast the show several times this week on Prime.

Last edited by NFriday on July 11th, 2018, 11:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

NFriday wrote:I'm sorry that I made a mistake. The link that I gave to No Reservations Needed said the program was on at 8:00pm, but it was on at 9:00pm on WTTW tonight.

Please note the name of the program is No Passport Required. Samuelsson's focus seems to be on immigrant cuisine within the U.S. I like the concept of an immigrant chef celebrating immigrant culture.I enjoyed the Detroit episode and the way it looked at the similarities and differences among Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese cuisines. I did get a chuckle out of how Marcus likes to show off his fashion sense.

This week's episode of No Passport Required on the Vietnamese community in New Orleans was quite exciting with new information to chew on.

They compared Vietnam with New Orleans as both having tropical climates and French influences on their culture and cuisine.

One vignette was a gas station where they offered Poor Boys and Bahm Mi. Over time, the customers want fried shrimp in their Bahn Mi and Vietnamese fixings on their Poor Boys. Now it is a mashup they offer.

In these two episodes, he ends up at a family dinner eating food not necessarily offered in their restaurants. Home cooked food is revered every time.

The Samuelsson episode on Chicago last night was okay. It was nice to see that he latched on to Mi Tocaya (which has been a favorite of mine for a while) and featured its beverage director in addition to Diana Davila, and later Carlos Gaytan of the now-closed Mexique. Food bits were the best, but superficial. The social commentary was uneven and Samuelsson's 5 or 6 costume changes were distracting. I really wanted to like it more but it doesn't break any new ground and does what's already out there - just a little more awkwardly. Bourdain and Zimmern did it better and even Phil Rosenthal is hitting his (shticky "Idiot Abroad") stride in his new round of shows.

I agree the Chicago episode was not as engaging as the Detroit and NOLA entries. Might be because we are more familiar with the territory and less likely to be impressed by his choices and insights. Looking forward to the next episode featuring Indian food in Queens.

I did not care as much for the Chicago episode. I am surprised he did not talk much about Pilsen. I also thought he spent too much time talking about the problems the dreamers are experiencing, and gang problems, and not enough time talking about food.